Means for clamping a signal circuit antenna cable to a railroad rail



Oct. 23, 1962 J. M. STANFILL MEANS FOR CLAMPING A SIGNAL CIRCUIT ANTENNA CABLE TO A RAILROAD RAIL Filed Dec. 9, 1960 INVENTOR JOHN M. $TANFH L ATTORNEY ll rates This invention relates to clamping means and more particularly to such a means for clamping an article to a railroad rail or the like.

The invention is especially well suited for supporting elongated antenna cables against the web portion of a rail, as in the conventional highway crossing warning systems employed by railways; but, however, in its broader aspects may be employed for clamping other forms of articles to rails or the like.

The various forms of clamps which have been used for such purposes, have, so far as I am aware, certain inherent disadvantages which it is a purpose of the present invention to overcome. For example, vibration of the rail may result in maladjustment of the supported article and when an inadequately clamped article is part of a sensitive electrical circuit, may adversely affect the functioning of the circuit; the clamps which secure the article to the rail in a rigid manner frequently require an attachment to the rail through holes bored therein, thus weakening the rail as well as necessitating substantial labor costs in the installation of the system; and readily attachable or detachable clamps which do not entail the boring of holes in the rail frequently include clamping elements placed under heavy strain due to the manner of their attachment to the rail.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved means for clamping articles to rails which is inexpensive; which may be readily installed or removed without modification of the rail; which is subjected to less fatigue due to vibration; and which is adapted to use with more than one size of rail.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds and when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation view of a rail with the clamping means installed thereon and supporting an antenna cable.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view to a larger scale taken on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan View of the support or holder body shown to a larger scale than the side elevation view thereof in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view of the holder body shown in FIG. 3.

In accordance with the invention, the clamping means includes a bifurcated holder adapted for engagement with the rail at one lateral edge and rigidly held in place by a hook or the like engaging the holder and the opposite lateral edge of the rail and extending below the rail. The clamping element itself is mounted upon the holder without being subjected to strain resulting from the attachment of that holder to the rail and is resiliently biased toward the web portion of the rail for pressing the article to be held against that web portion of the rail.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventional rail indicated generally at and having a web portion 11, and a base with lateral edges 12 and 13 is mounted upon conventional ties (not shown). The holder member may conveniently comprise a central body portion 14 having a first integral upper leg 15 projecting laterally therefrom at an upwardly inclined angle and with a lower fiat surface corre sponding to the angle of incline of the rail surface between the web portion and the lateral edge of that rail. In addition, a second integral lower leg 16 projects laterally in the same direction from the body portion and has a fiat 3,59,384 Patented Get. 23, 1962 upper surface 17 in a plane corresponding to the lower surface of the base of that rail.

The holder may be cast, or otherwise formed from a suitable malleable metal and has suflicient metal present to resist securing and vibration stresses. Preferably, the lower leg is of greater length than the upper leg and has a longitudinal aperture 20 therethrough. The divergence of the legs from each other is such as to provide an open space 21 between the central body portion and the lateral edge 13 of the largest size rail with which the holder is to be used and the length of the legs is such as to give a substantial area of contact with that largest rail, all for a purpose to appear later.

Adapted for ready attachment to, or detachment from, the rail and holder is an elongated securing member such as a bolt 22 having at one end a hook portion 23 engageable with the lateral edge 12 of the rail. At the other end the securing member is threaded as at 24 and is held in place within the aperture 20 by a plurality of lock nuts 25 bearing against the holder. Considering now FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the upper leg is provided with a pair of upstanding flanges 26, and 27 at the extreme side edges thereof and extending substantially the entire length of that upper leg. In addition, the upper face of the upper leg above the body portion is formed with an integral anchor post 30, preferably of cylindrical shape and projecting upwardly.

With the foregoing in mind and referring now to FIG. 1, the invention includes a specially shaped clamping element or arm which, for example, may comprise a hot rolled spring steel member about inch in width and A inch in thickness and which may have been heat treated for best spring characteristics, cadmium plated, and then baked at 250 to 300 degrees F. for two hours to remove hydrogen brittleness. This element is fabricated with a hole adjacent one end and which hole receives the post 31 with a close fit. Extending from that one end is a flat portion 31 adapted to lie in contact with the upper surface of leg 15 and merging into an upward extension 32 terminating at edge 33. The upward extension 32 as well as the flat portion 31 preferably remain out of contact with rail 10 at all times, but the arm may be so biased that its edge 33 would contact the web of the rail were no article to be clamped thereby. For the purpose of supporting an article or articles in clamping position, the arm is shaped with one or more recessed portions 34 and 35 adjacent its upper end where the bias is greatest, and as shown, these portions may surround a substantial part of the periphery of cables 36 and 37 forming part of an electrical system.

As noted in FIG. 2, during the assembly of the structure the fiat portion of the arm is positioned between flanges 26 and 27 of the upper leg of the holder, and with the post 30 in the hole of the arm, after which the flanges are bent downwardly to envelope the edges of the arm as seen at 26A and 27A, and to hold the arm against shifting with respect to the holder.

The several advantages of the invention will now be apparent in considering a typical usage of the same as a support for an antenna cable. For average usage such a cable requires firm support on about thirty inch spacings consistent with tie spacings in the track. The user may employ a clamping means of the above type having the arm attached to the holder at the factory, or may produce the attachment at the point of use merely by bending the flanges downwardly by a simple tool. More than one hole may be formed in the flat portion 31 of the arm when variation of the positioning of the arm with respect to the holder is desired. The same holder, arm and bolt may be used with rails of different size. For example, when used with a rail smaller than that shown, the size of space 21 will be diminished accordingly.

In all sizes of rails, however, the bifurcated holder rests in .close contact with the rail on two surfaces of substantial area and all of the stress of fastening to the rail is taken by the relatively massive holder. The resilient arm thus is free to exert a substantially uniform holding action upon the cables or other article and as vibration occurs in the rail the spring biased nature of the arm dampens that vibration without allowing shifting of the cables held against the vibrating rail. Furthermore, the clamping means may be easily installed without modification of the rail itself.

Having thus described the invention and having shown one form for carrying out the purposes of the same, it will be apparent that other forms and modifications thereof may be employed without departing from the true spirit and scope of my invention. It is intended, therefore, that the foregoing disclosure is to be treated in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense and that the invention is to be considered as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. 'For use in clamping a signal circuit antenna cable against the web portion of a railroad rail at a location spaced from the base portion of said rail, a bifurcated holder having a first leg portion engageable on its lower face with the upper surface of the base of said rail adjacent one lateral edge of said rail and a second leg portion engageable with the lower surface of the base of said rail beneath said one lateral edge, said first leg portion comprising an upwardly extending flange along each lateral edge of its upper face and with a fiat surface between said flanges, means attached to said holder and extending beneath said rail and engageable with the opposite lateral edge of said rail for securing said holder in tight engagement with said rail, a resilient ar'm having a flat mounting leg attachable adjacent one end thereof to said holder and a cable clamping leg integral with said mounting leg and extending upwardly from said mounting leg generally parallel to the adjacent surface of the web portion of said rail and supporting the weight of said cable, said clamping leg being adapted to engage said cable and to hold the same firmly against an upper region of the web portion of said rail, and means for rigidly and fixedly securing said mounting leg of said arm to said first leg portion of said holder and including inwardly bent extremities of said flanges bearing upon the upper fiat surface of said mounting leg and holding the lower flat surface thereof against the flat surface of said first leg portion of said holder.

2. A clamping means as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for securing said mouting leg to said holder includes a post integral with said first leg portion of said holder and extending upwardly between said flanges, and said mounting leg of said arm includes an aperture into which said post may extend.

References fitted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,196,798 Magle Sept. 5, 1916 2,529,153 Hain NOV. 7, 1950 2,530,136 Steenbrugghe Nov. 14, 1950 2,827,240 Steele et al. Mar. 18, 1958 2,904,293 Thompson Sept. 15, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 152,388 Sweden Nov. 15, 1955 

